There’s a cry that won’t quite release, a sadness that pulls at my face as much as my gut… I feel deep concern that idolatry has become so common in our shared narrative, so very accepted and protected, upheld and esteemed. Oh God, have mercy.
Read MoreIn the summer of 2017 our nation experienced a solar eclipse… A co-worker managed to get a few pair of the special glasses required to look at the sun as the moon covered it over - it was fascinating. The thing I remember most about that day, though, is the coming together in awe and wonder - people all over the nation - experiencing and living though a natural phenomenon that dazzled us…
And now, the COVID-19 reality has finally sunk in to our collective consciousness - forcing us to come to terms with significant disruption and serious individual responsibility. It struck me how the same sense from the eclipse, that feeling of “it’s happening to all of us” is true, although in this case, it is not good.
I have a specific memory of kneeling on the concrete sidewalk along Nebraska Avenue, huddled with some schoolboys around a dry leaf, or maybe it was a piece of paper, holding a magnifying glass - trying to start a little fire. I don’t remember whose dime-store magnifying glass we were experimenting with, but we were all excited to see if this was an actual possibility.
Read MoreWe have a tree. A showstopper tree. Last week a couple was using it as their backdrop in a photo shoot. This week a woman parked and got out “just to look at our tree.” It is a maple that shines and glistens and glows for a little less than two weeks every fall. It is beautiful, and I love it. And its beauty is waning - with as many of its lovely leaves on the ground as on its branches now. In one or two more days, it will be practically bare.
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